Equidistance and positive neutrality: Spanish Jesuits on terrorism, peace, and democracy in the Basque Country from 1978 to 1988

Introduction: Peace Movements in Southern Europe during the 1970s and 1980s

“…Indeed, these Jesuits made a somewhat belated, yet sustained contribution to the deradicalisation of ETA during the 1980s. 45 A third observation considers another difference between peace movements in Northern and Southern Europe. In Northern Europe, they were dominated by social democrats and Protestant or Catholic Christians, and focused almost entirely on the issue of nuclear armaments; they were nuclear pacifists in a strict sense, with no substantial interest in abolishing military service or disbanding the army altogether.…”